Month: March 2024

I’ve shared Noah Smith’s work a few times in the past couple of years. His newsletter is one of my favorites. I thought I’d share a few excerpts from a few of his past editions that resonated. The first three are in no particular order – I saved the best one for the end.

(1) Noah shared this cartoon from 1971 that features a huge number of negative stereotypes about the Irish — as terrorists, as drunkards, as criminals, and as seeking to dominate American culture.

Of course, all of this change in time. And the “other” group has shifted over time. His post makes the argument that Hispanics are the new Irish. The meta point was deep – it is a tale as old as time.

(2) Doomscrolling is hazardous to our mental health. In his recent post featuring five interesting things, he shared a powerful study about doomscrolling on Twitter.

“There is no shortage of studies correlating social media use with poor mental health. But this one, by de Mello, Cheung, and Inzlicht, really hits home for me:

In public debate, Twitter (now X) is often said to cause detrimental effects on users and society. Here we address this research question by querying 252 participants from a representative sample of U.S. Twitter users 5 times per day over 7 days (6,218 observations). Results revealed that Twitter use is related to decreases in well-being, and increases in political polarization, outrage, and sense of belonging over the course of the following 30 minutes. Effect sizes were comparable to the effect of social interactions on well-being. These effects remained consistent even when accounting for demographic and personality traits. Different inferred uses of Twitter were linked to different outcomes: passive usage was associated with lower well-being, social usage with a higher sense of belonging, and information-seeking usage with increased outrage and most effects were driven by within-person changes.

In other words, Twitter is exactly the outrage machine people think it is. It’s the Two Minutes Hate from Orwell’s 1984, except it lasts exactly as many minutes as you’re willing to give it. And no matter how fun you think it is to be outraged at stuff, it’s not good for your emotional well-being.

I have to be on Twitter for my job. Hopefully, you don’t.”

(3) This summary on climate change was both simple and insightful.

The change in climate got a lot more severe in 2023.

This is expensive – the US saw a record number of $1B+ disasters.

Fossil fuel emissions have more or less been constant since 2015.

With most of the Coal power coming from China

China is also a massive contributor to the renewable boom as the leading producer of batteries. Renewable energy trajectory is exponential.

Residential adoption continues to grow all over the world along with growth in electric vehicles.

And all of this is increasingly enabled by solar – which is efficient and cheap.

And just awesome.

(4) My favorite post from the last quarter is titled “Toward a shallower future.” The post is an answer to a question I find myself asking from time to time – how should I think about how much adversity my kids have in their life? They have it so much easier than I did – is that okay?

I know I’m not alone in asking this question.

His grandfather, a bombardier in World War 2, once said to him – “I did that [stuff] so you wouldn’t have to.” Or in the words of John Adams – “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”

Then he goes onto make this point

“And they must at least try to understand that in a more general sense, happiness isn’t truly shallow — it just has a different kind of depth. The passions of people raised in a kinder, gentler world may be alien and incomprehensible to the older generation, but they are no less intense, and the culture around them is no less complex. Adversity forces us to rise to its challenge, but abundance allows us to discover who we might become, and that is a different sort of adventure.

Looking back on my own life so far, I remember the happy child I was, before clinical depression changed me. Depression is horrible, but it added a richness and depth to the person I am today, and I appreciate the value of those changes. But if that happy child had gotten a chance to grow up without depression, I think he would have been changed in different ways, and under the tutelage of gentler teachers, would have become no less worthwhile and interesting of a person.

So it must be with humanity. The modern world of push-button marvels has lost something, but it has gained more than it has lost. By celebrating it, we honor the countless millennia of heroes who worked in some small way to bring it about, even as we dedicate ourselves to continuing their great enterprise. Our legacy is to fill the Universe with children who laugh more than we were allowed to.“

It was a perspective changer. Thanks Noah.

The thing that’s often forgotten about “smart work” is that it generally takes “hard work” to get smarter about what to do.

The thing that’s often forgotten about “quality time” is that it generally takes “quantity time” to get to the quality.

I met a wise friend I’d learned a lot from after a decade. It was wonderful to be able to recount a few of the things I’d learnt that have stayed with me a decade later. The biggest lesson of them all was – “Don’t confuse good outcomes with good decisions.” I think about that idea regularly.

It got me thinking about just how special that is. The imprint we leave on people when they learn something of value because of what we do or say is a special one. It can provide perspective that changes many lives.

The path to that isn’t to go around looking to teach. That just makes us annoying.

It is, instead, to simply be a person of value. Like most meaningful things in this life, others learning from interactions with us is just a byproduct of that good product.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

I remember reading this first as a teenager. I think I thought little of it.

The more time passes, the more I appreciate its wisdom.

There was a powerful insight in David Attenborough’s “Life on our Planet” series where he shared the challenges facing coral reefs.

The biggest challenge, by far, is the warming climate. When waters become too warm, reefs whiten and die. Coral reefs both contribute disproportionately to marine diversity and have been dying at accelerated rates due to warming waters.

The next, however, is shark overfishing. Sharks are the apex predator in the coral reef ecosystem. They eat the mid-size fish who, in turn, eat the “grazers” that keep the reef healthy. When the shark population falls, the mid-size fish eat too many of the grazers – throwing the entire ecosystem off balance.

This is a recurring theme in nature. Entire ecosystems can be thrown off balance when you hurt one part. It reminds me of John Muir’s insightful note – “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

That idea applies to so many things in this life. We are all – all living beings included – connected in more ways than we realize.

We only learn about how important our priorities are to us on days when everything goes sideways.

It is on those days that priorities become so.

I first put on a pair of skis a decade ago. It wasn’t love at first sight – it took me a few days of trial (with a lot of error) before I began falling in love. That love has only deepened over the last decade. Every time I go out into the mountains, I find myself reflecting and remembering a few powerful ideas. I thought I’d share that compilation:

(1) Enormous amounts of effort for a few glorious minutes. It takes a lot of preparation to go onto the slopes. The equipment is heavy and hard to put on. You often need to carry it for significant distances. Every stop involves effort to get back to the lift. And, if you’re with kids, you can double the complexity. In sum, it is an involved process. For every 6-8 hours spent preparing and getting on the slopes, actual slope time is often just over an hour.

This never fails to remind me of the outsized role of preparation and process in this life. It takes an enormous amount of process to enjoy a few glorious minutes with good results. The tougher the journey, the sweeter the destination. Joy wouldn’t be good if it wasn’t for the pain.

(2) The fundamentals are always a few. Skiing boils down to three fundamental lessons. The first is learning how to turn with skis parallel by putting our weight on the outside leg. The second is learning to lean forward to stay in control. And the third is learning how to navigate the chairlift. Each of these involves mastering something that is counter-intuitive – it isn’t intuitive at first to put our weight on our outside leg, it feels crazy to lean forward when we’re moving down a slope, and it takes time to let the chairlift come to you and nudge you forward.

There are very few fundamental lessons in any practice. And they’re always counter-intuitive.

(3) Learning happens fastest when the consequences are real. I’ve both watched and attempted to teach a lot of folks over the years. Those who learn quickly have one thing in common – they’re willing to let themselves pick up enough speed to master how to turn.

That willingness means embracing a bit of risk as you are more likely to fall. But that consequence also creates the perfect conditions for us to learn how to turn.

Learnings happens fastest when the consequences are real.

(4) Trust but verify. When you’re skiing downhill, you always need to have trust in those behind you. You’ll often hear loud noises (snowboarders! :-)) and some folks don’t do the best job with ski etiquette. But trust is a part of the deal. Just as those ahead of you trust you to work around their paths.

However, 100% trust is a bad idea. There’s often a crazy person who loses control or does something stupid. Look up before you merge. Trust, but verify.

(5) Blue slopes and happiness. Ski slopes are split into green (easy), blue (intermediate), black (challenging), and double back (very challenging – typically with moguls/bumps or rocks). I learnt skiing as an adult – so I’ve stayed away from attempting to learn how to navigate double black terrain which tends to be challenging but comes with injury risk.

The fascinating thing, however, is that blue slopes are a great place to be for most people. The best terrain in most mountains tends to be intermediate terrain – they often have the best views and the longest runs.

I think money and possessions work similarly. Having too little can be a problem. While it is always tempting to keep trying to get more, having just enough tends to unlock a happy life without all the trouble that comes with always seeking more.

(6) The small things are the big things. The best mountains aren’t just about the terrain. They’re masters of the small details – ease of parking, watchful lift operators, lift areas that don’t involve steep climbs or drops, clear signage, and well-organized cafes.

The small things are the big things.

(7) You’ll know when you’ve done the work. Once you have good technique, a day on the slopes will always give you feedback on your fitness levels. Every place you haven’t worked out enough will hurt.

As it is in this life, you’ll know when you’ve done the work. There’s no place to hide.

(8) Conscious -> unconscious -> spiritual. While I’m no expert (see #5), a day in the mountains has become a spiritual experience. It means putting my body to work, having conversations with friends and family, smelling the fresh mountain air, and taking in the nature all around.

When we apply ourselves to a practice, we start with conscious focus. Over time, the fundamentals become second nature and we learn to enjoy the practice without thinking about it. And, in time, it becomes a spiritual experience.

(9) Privilege is the ability to focus on the wants. I didn’t know what skiing was growing up. Even if I did know what it was, we wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Every day I spend out in the mountains, I’m reminded that privilege is when I’m able to focus on the wants without worrying about the needs.

It is a massive gift.

And always a good reminder to make it count when I’m back at work.

Self-confidence comes from insight and/or proficiency.

There are no shortcuts.

A simple idea that is worth internalizing – there is no easy path to payoff that matters.

The rewards that are most worthwhile come for dealing with the most ambiguous problems. It is always messy. We are hardly ever set up for success and the odds always look stacked against us.

Sure, we might get a break. We can certainly hope for one if we’d like.

But hope is not a strategy.

The only way is through… the messiness.